Monday, November 21, 2011

from books to movies.

Did you guys SEE The Hunger Games trailer?
It has been days and I am still thinking about it.

I think I have now watched it roughly 35 times.

I love everything about it.

But you know what I love most about it?

The fact that I love it.

Does that make sense?

I am notorious for hating movies if they were originally books, because I always love the book more.
I am unbelievably picky when it comes to the movie, so usually I already dislike it by the time the trailer is out.
And while I have definitely found some things I dislike about THG trailer (hello, Haymitch's hair??) overall, I am extremely impressed.

And the trailer has got me thinking about other books that have been turned into movies.
So here's a few that come to mind, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

My Sister's Keeper

Yes, yes, the ending is ridiculous.

But I really do love this movie.

And honestly, (for those of you who have read it and know what I'm talking about) I think if they had kept the original ending in the movie, all of America would have had a heart attack. I know I did when I read it, and seeing it on screen would have made it a thousand times worse.

In Her Shoes

I really love this movie, and I really love this book.

I think if you've read the book, it somehow makes the movie ever better. It's like you know a little secret about the characters that other people don't.

Fair warning though, if you haven't read the book, it is good but much more graphic than the movie.

Memoirs of a Geisha

Wonderful book. Confusing movie.

I first saw this with a friend who hadn't read the book, and if I hadn't read it, we both would have been totally lost. If you have background knowledge of it, I guess it makes sense. But bottom line, whether or not you see the movie, read the book and read it first.

White Oleander

This is possibly my favorite book of all time.

And the movie just doesn't do the book any sort of justice.

Read this book.

P.S. I Love You

Unpopular opinion: I hate this movie.

I never even made it through the whole thing.

I was given the book as a Christmas gift years before it was ever a movie, and I stayed up all night Christmas Eve reading till I finished it, and I think I cried the entire time.

It is BEAUTIFUL book, everyone should read it.

And this movie...I can't even.

I could go on and on about other adaptations (The Life Before Her Eyes, Never Let Me Go, etc.) or rant about how I'm scared they're going to ruin some of my favorite books in the future (The Host, Delirium, Before I Fall) but we'd be here all day.

I guess taking something I love and trying to put it on film makes me nervous, because of things like this :)

Have you seen/read any of these? Do you agree? What are some of your favorite and least favorite adaptations?

Where to begin?! The Notebook was far better than the movie, even though the movie was pretty tear-jerking and well casted. I am one of the rare people that didn't enjoy the movie The Help as much as I enjoyed the book. The movie, while amazingly casted and well-acted, just left out too much. It was too scattered for me. I'm sorry. I just can't. And I LOVED the movie In Her Shoes! Now I'll have to go read the book.

ps. Do I even need to mention the Twilight movie adaptions? Don't get me started...

Oh I completely agree. I liked The Help, but it was NOWHERE near as wonderful as the book. They left out too much, and changed so many things, with Stuart and ESPECIALLY with Constantine. It was too...satisfying? The ending was too happy, I guess. That's not how I felt about the end of the book. It just wasn't realistic enough.

UGH, the Twilight movies. We just...don't even need to go there. In order to talk about that I would have to start a whole other blog, not just another post.

I loved this post but I'm sad to say I haven't read any of the books - except PS I Love You (And I didn't like the book either, I'm sorry to say. At least I'm not the only one in the world not in love with the movie). But I really want to read White Oleander and My Sister's Keeper right now!My favorite book-to-movie adaptions are Stardust (not that much alike, but both wonderful), Pride & Prejudice (basically the same as Stardust, not so alike, but good all the same) and Never Let Me Go, where the movie was almost better.

I am totally scared with what they are going to do to The Host. It is one of my favorite books and I am still pretty against it turning into a movie. I just don't see how they can do it justice. At all.